Compact sauna unit



' July 1, 1969 R. H. JONES ET AL COMPACT SAUNA UNIT Sheet L of Filed June 14, 1967 w VE/V 705's NM 2 r N M E0 2 0 MTM mm 0 Y mfiw w A T TOR/V575 July 1, 1969 R. H. JONES ET AL 3,452,369

COMPACT SAUNA UNIT Filed June 14, 1967 Sheet 'Z of 4 TOR H. OLSSE/V ROBERT h. JONES LENNARD E. NYL/N 0m, (UM 2:12am

ATTORNEYS July 1,1969

Filed June 14, 19767 R. H JONES ET AL COMPACT SAUNA UNIT ROBE/7T H. Jon/53' LEN/V480 s. N'YLHV' July 1, 1969 v J ET AL A r 3,452,369 P I CbMPACT SAUNA-UNIT v 7 Filed June 14. 1967 Y I I Shee or 4 IN VEW T 0R5, ran 0. 0L SSE/V noaznr n. JONES LEN/MRO EJVYLIN ATTORNEYS Mia/mid.

United States Patent 3,452,369 COMPACT SAUNA UNIT Robert Haldon Jones and Lennard Edward Nylin, San

Jose, Calif., and Tor H. Olssen, Stockholm, Sweden,

assignors to Viking Sauna Company, San Jose, Calif.,

a partnership Filed June 14, 1967, Ser. No. 645,965

Int. Cl. A61n 33/06; Hb 1/00, 3/02, 11/00; F24h 9/02 US. Cl. 4-460 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A compact sauna unit, capable of use by one person alone. A heater unit contained in the door has a plurality of generally vertically extending duets with air inlets at the lower end and air outlets at the upper end, all inside the door, some of which keep the door cool while electrical rod heating means in a central duct supplies heat. A window spaced above the heater unit has a labyrinthine exhaust condition along its upper edge. It is to be noted that the floor, ceiling, walls and door are assembled reasonably snugly while enabling a small amount of leakage of air from outside into the room at the joints between points and around the door to constitute the only air inlet means into the closed room.

This invention relates to a sauna unit. More particularly, it relates to a sauna room which is a self-constituted unit enabling a single person to take a sauna bath within a very small area. It also relates to a novel heater for a sauna room and to a novel air circulation system therefor.

A sauna is a well-known Finnish high temperature bath tending to produce a feeling of well-being and aiding a bather to relax. The humidity is kept low, so that there is little sensation of heat in spite of the high temperatures used, and there is none of the discomfort one experiences with steam baths. The bather prespires copiously, thereby cleansing his body through the skin pores. The sauna bath is usually taken in conjunction with one or more shower baths and may involve two or three exposures in the sauna room. A traditional Finnish sauna was a small detached building heated by a wood-stoked furnace piled high with stones to retain and radiate heat. The bath Was usually a family matter, with several people taking the bath at once. Such units are unsuited to modern American apartments and homes where space is at a premium and where only a single person uses the sauna at one time. Many things are needed to be changed to adapt the sauna to urban American civilization; for example, a woodstoked furnace is impractical and is better replaced .by an electrical unit.

A basic problem to which this invention is directed is that of providing a sauna installation which may be sold as a unit to provide the complete sauna effect within a very small space and volume. It is difficult to adapt a sauna to confined spaces, because it is important for the temperature within the room to be accurately controllable and to be held evenly within the room. It is also difiicult to provide proper heating and circulation without a rather large space separating the heaters from the bather.

The present invention overcomes these problems and provides a one-person sauna bath of high efliciency, good quality, and excellent results.

An important feature of the invention is the organization of the room to provide maximum efficiency both in use and in manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sauna bath unit having an effective, yet compact heating, venting and air circulating system capable of installation within the door of a small closet-like room. Also, quick and adequate heating and adequate venting and air circulat- 3,452,369 Patented July 1, 1969 ing are mandatory but conflicting objectives, and the inventors achieve both these objectives within strict space and cost limitations.

Another object of the invention is to provide an air circulation system for a very small sauna bath unit, enabling the conservation of space without impairing the sauna results.

Another object of the invention is to provide for such a sauna bath unit a compact, eflicient and safe electrical control system, also built into the sauna room door.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a sauna bath unit embodying the principles of the invention, the door being shown in its open position.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation and partly in section of the door of the unit of FIG. 1, some portions being removed to show the structure of others.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary and partially exploded view of the upper portion of the sauna room with the door fully closed.

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation and section of the sauna bath room, the section being taken from front to rear with the door closed.

FIG. 5 is a view in section in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the electrical circuit of the unit of FIGS. 1-5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view in elevation, partly broken open and partly broken in two, of the heating unit for the sauna room as installed in the door.

FIG. 8 is a view in section taken along the line 8-8 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary View of a portion of the door, showing the window and area around the window, some portions being broken away.

FIG. 10 is a view in section taken along the line 10-10 in FIG. 9, the portions broken away in FIG. 9 being restored.

FIG. 11 is a view in the window frame.

FIG. 12 is a view in or tube installed at the lation.

A sauna bath unit 20 is shown as a preferred embodiment of the invention. The unit 20 comprises two side walls 21 and 22, a rear wall 23 and a front wall 24 in which is hinged a door 25. There is also a ceiling 26 and a floor 27. The four walls and the door and ceiling are preferably made from especially constructed panels, lined with redwood so as to provide good insulation qualities. The walls 21, 22, 23, 24 and roof 26 may be hollow and filled with insulating material. The door 25 and front panel 24 may be made from a panel that is initially similar to the other walls, the doors, the door 25 being cut out from the panel and then hinged back together. The walls are abutted and screwed together as shown in FIG. 3; the inner walls 28 stop short of the height of the outer walls 29 of the room so that the ceiling panel 26 can be dropped into place, fitting snugly and resting on the upper end of the inner walls 28 essentially flush with the top of the outer walls 29. The walls are then secure-d together to provide a relatively rigid structure. The floor 27 is similarly held in place by the four walls 21, 22, 23, and 24.

There are two benches 30 and 31; an upper bench 30 on which the bather sits and a lower bench 31 on which he rests his feet. These benches 30 and 31 are fitted into recesses 32 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) in the side walls 21 and 22 and held by those walls.

All of the heating and other electrical facilities are carried by the door 25, and this is an important feature taken along the line 5-5 perspective of one half of the perspective of the venting conduit top of the window for air circuof the invention, because thereby a single panel carries all the needed components of the heating system, air circulation and venting system, electrical control and timing systems and the concealed heat limiting (safety) system. A power supply line 35 is adapted to fit into a standard 120-volt IS-amp. house line and to it are connected all the electrical circuit elements, as shown in FIG. 6, including a lamp 36 and thermostat 37, a control panel 38, and a heater 40. Mounted in the door 25, particularly recessed therein, the heating unit 40 comprises (see FIGS. 2 and 6-8) a rectangular sheet-metal housing 41 in which is a calrod type of element 42 disposed in a serpentine fashion having long vertical portions connected by curved portions at upper and lower extremities. If there were nothing more, the unit 40 would not be satisfactory for two reasons. In the first place, the element 42 would tend to' overheat and would not be safe, becoming a fire hazard. In the second place, without some way of causing adequate circulation, the unit 40 would emit heat but there would be no efiicient distribution of the heat Within the small room 20. The heating unit 40 and the door 25 cooperate in this invention with the remainder of the unit 20 to provide a circulation pattern.

As shown particularly in FIG. 8, the door 25 has a deep recess on its inner side to provide a receptacle 43 for the unit 40. Within this receptacle 43 fits the metal outer housing 41, somewhat spaced from the recess walls so that dead-air insulation is obtained between them. Within this housing 41 and spaced from it is another sheet-metal receptacle 44 which supports the heating element 42 by insulators 45. A baflle 46 is placed opposite the heating element 42, and a cover panel 47, having lower and upper grills 48 and 49, is spaced from the baflle 46. Between the innermost housing 41 and the receptacle 44 is an air passage 50, air entering through lower baffle open ings 51 and a horizontal clearance 52. and going up the entire height of the wall by the passage 50 to a small upper chamber 53 and then issuing out by a passage 54 to the front of the unit. This provides a current of cooling air which keeps the door 25 from being overheated. The air brought in is cool and is never heated very much.

This structure is important, for without it, it would be difficult to put a sufficiently strong heating unit in the door 25.

Another current of air enters through the lower grill 48 and is separated into two streams by the bathe 46, one stream going into the space 55 behind the baffle 46 and past the heating element 40. This air is heated quite hot and is relied upon for the main heat of the unit. It is circulated partly by its own operation and partly by the other currents of air by which it is surrounded. It goes out through the upper grille 49 from a small plenum chamber 56.

The second stream of air entering the grille 48 ascends the space 57 between the baflle 46 and the outer panel 47, keeping the outer panel 47 cool, and is exhausted through the grille 49 after entering the small plenum chamber 56. This pattern keeps the user from being burned if he should touch the panel 47 and makes the unit safe.

In addition to the circulation pattern of the heater itself, an important factor in the overall circulation pattern is provided at the window assembly 60. It is important to renew the air continually, and in order to do this some of the old air must be passed outside. This passage enables fresh air to enter around the perimeter of the door in the absence of special perimeter stripping and sealing, which is deliberately not done. It is not necessary to provide any separate or additional ventilation inlets.

The window assembly 60 comprises two frames 61 and 62 wtih a pane 63 of glass between them to afford visibility. The frames 61 and 62 both comprises a rectangular unit with a flange 64 therearound. A frame portion 65 has a horizontal recess 66, and a frame portion 67 has a generally vertical recess 68. A metal spacer 70 fits in the recess 66 to provide an air conduit. From the front or back, particularly since the window 60 is high, very few people can see the ventilation system, and this is a safety feature because it prevents people from circumventing it. Even if seen from above it is hardly discernible and does not encourage tampering. As shown in FIG. 10, most of the hot air goes up past the inner flange 64, and only a portion of it passes back down through the recess 68 then across through the conduit 70 to the other recess 68 and up and out therethrou-gh. This pattern has been found to enable proper sampling to give exactly the right amount of air circulation from inside to outside to maintain the device at its top efficiency thermostatically.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

We claim:

1. A compact sauna unit, including in combination,

a self-contained room having its own floor, ceiling, walls, and door, assembled reasonably snugly while enabling a small amount of leakage of air from outside into the room at the joints between parts and around the door, constituting the only air inlet means into the closed room,

seat means in said room for supporting a person in a seated position with his feet spaced well above the floor,

a heater unit contained in said door and comprising a housing defining a plurality of generally vertically extending duct means with air inlet means at the lower end thereof and air outlet means at the upper end thereof both said inlet and outlet means opening only into the interior of said room, said duct means providing an inner duct adjacent the inner surface of the door for keeping an inner surface of said housing cool, an outer duct adjacent the outer surface of the door for keeping that portion of the outer surface cool, and a central duct sandwiched between said inner and outer ducts and separated therefrom by thin metal walls, said heater unit having electrical rod heating means in said central duct, the heat therefrom serving to supply the sole source of heating for the sauna unit and also serving to provide heat to said inner and outer ducts through said thin metal walls for causing upward movement of cooling air thercthrough, and

exhaust means through said door vertically above said heater unit, for exhausting a controlled amount of air from said room.

2. The sauna unit of claim 1 wherein said door has a WlIldOW spaced above said heater unit, said exhaust means being provided along the upper edge of said window and comprising a horizontal conduit between a vertical inlet passage leading from an inlet above said horizontal conduit and a vertical outlet passage leading to an outlet above said horizontal conduit.

3. The Sauna unit of claim 2 wherein said vertical inlet and outlet passages are located high, above eye level of tall persons when standing inside or outside said room, and are shielded from view by vertical fascias so as to be not readily observable except from above them.

4. The sauna unit of claim 1 wherein all the electrical controls for the unit are in the door.

5. A compact sauna unit for use by a single person and occupying a minimum space, including in combination,

a self-contained room having its own floor, ceiling, walls, and door, assembled reasonably snugly while enabling a small amount of leakage of air from outside into the room at the joints between parts and around the door,

bench means in said room supported by said walls and facing the door, for supporting one person in a seated position with his feet spaced well above the floor,

a heater unit contained in said door and comprising a housing defining a plurality of generally vertically extending duct means, air inlet means at the lower end thereof, and air outlet means at the upper er 1 d thereof, said duct means providing an inner duct adjacent the inner surface of the door for keeping an inner surface of said housing cool, an Outer duct adjacent the outer surface of the door for keeping that portion of the outer surface cool, and a central duct sandwiched between said inner and outer ducts and separated therefrom by thin metal walls, said heater unit having electrical rod heating means in said cenrtal duct, the heat therefrom serving to supply the sole source of heating for the sauna unit and also serving to provide heat to said inner and outer ducts through said thin metal walls for causing upward movement of cooling air therethrough, and

a window spaced vertically above said heater unit, and

exhaust means for exhausting a controlled amount of air from said room, provided along the upper edge of said window and comprising a horizontal conduit between a vertical inlet passage leading from an inlet above said horizontal conduit and a vertical outlet passage leading to an outlet above said horizontal conduit.

6. The sauna unit of claim 5 wherein said vertical inlet and outlet passages are located high, above eye level of tall persons when standing inside or outside said room, and are concealed from view by vertical fascias so as to be not readily observable except from above them.

7. The sauna unit of claim 5 having a foot-rest supported by said walls.

8. The sauna unit of claim 7 wherein said heater unit extends from slightly below said footrest to slightly above the level of said bench means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,450,561 10/1948 Ria 219-366 2,552,837 5/1951 Blazer 219-366 2,590,336 3/1952 Mast 219-367 2,606,992 8/ 1952 MacDonald 219-367 2,815,431 12/1957 Paky 219-366 2,914,648 11/ 1959 Allander 219-367 2,995,644 8/ 1961 Zellers 219-368 3,271,786 9/1966 Joy 4-160 3,394,412 7/1968 Olssn 4-160 FOREIGN PATENTS 414,475 8/1934 Great Britain.

884,956 12/1961 Great Britain.

732,713 4/1966 Canada. 1,149,493 3/ 1963 Germany.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

30 HENRY K. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 219-366 

